On 16 October 2024, the European Parliament officially adopted a proposal to postpone the implementation of the European Union’s Zero Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for 12 months, from 30 December 2024 to 30 December 2025. This postponement responds to concerns from member countries, non-EU countries and global business actors related to supply chain readiness to meet regulatory requirements. However, this proposal still requires approval from the European Parliament.
The delay in implementing the EUDR is a backward step in efforts to reduce the rate of deforestation at the global level. In fact, the need to improve forest management and commodities that cause deforestation is of great urgency. In the Indonesian context, instead of being discriminatory and detrimental, EUDR actually provides a positive impact and a breath of fresh air from the stagnation of improvements promised by the government.
What are the implications for Indonesia
One of the clauses talks about risk benchmarking and the Information System not functioning 6 months before implementation, meaning this further slows down the process of combining and matching data in the national dashboard that is being prepared by the Indonesian government. Another clause that is also unfortunate is the addition of a “no risk category” in the State Risk Benchmark.
No risk category countries:
- Countries that have forest area that is stable from 1990.
- Countries that comply to Paris Agreement and Human Rights International Convention and deforestation prevention.
- Countries that have law enforcement on deforestation prevention and forest conservation.
With those criteria, it will be unfair for producent countries such as Indonesia. By adding the no risk category, it will undermine the EUDR as a whole. Surely, the postponement of the EUDR should not have happened. EUDR can be used as a tool to stop deforestation in Indonesia.
More details can be downloaded at the link below: